The superstar took a victory lap with his One More for the Road concert in Florida
Alan Jackson. What do those two words conjure for you? They conjure the back of my late grandmother’s shock red Chrysler, running summer errands, the twang of “Livin’ on Love” mixing with fiddle and steel guitar providing that cozy feeling through the car stereo that only 90s country can.
Jackson made 16,000 plus people feel that real country coziness on Friday night (Mar 7th) — incidentally my grandmother’s birthday — with 20+ classics from his catalogue of over 60 singles.
Decked in a lively rhinestoned western shirt with a bar of music notes across the yoking, Jackson took the stage with “Gone Country” before launching into “I Don’t Even Know Your Name.” In fine tune all night, Jackson’s lived-in voice was a time capsule back to the 90s.
Jackson’s band, as well, were killer. His fiddle player shredded a quick “Orange Blossom Special” before “The Older I Get.” And his acoustic guitarist delivered an extended opening on “Drive (For Daddy Gene).” Jackson himself played rhythm all night on a bejeweled guitar rimmed with rhinestones.
Throughout the night of hits, Jackson spoke plainly about his career and the moments that made him a 17 time CMA Award winner, two time Grammy winner, and Country Music Hall of Famer. Before “Here in the Real World,” he told the crowd he almost had to go back to a real job to support his young family. But the record label released the song and it broke his career wide open.
The crowd was as receptive as could be. Jackson returned the love by tossing rolled up T-shirts into the pit. One front row group held up letters in time to the “G with an O, O with a D” bridge of “Good Time” just like in the music video. It cracked him up and earned them a shirt.
Throughout the show, the look back at Jackson’s career took place on the screen. Photos of key moments, music video clips, and images of Jackson with fellow legends both gone and still here. The message is clear: He’s a grateful man able to hold his career in his heart, but knows that it’s time to—in his words—wind down.
As Jackson winds down, a new crop is coming up. Because that cozy country sound of the 90s is finally a commercial draw once again. Rising superstar Zach Top is the standard-bearer of this post-tonk-the-stadiums generation. And he opened for Jackson with a very well received. Most of the room sang along to his newly-minted radio No. 1 “I Never Lie.”
Alan Jackson may be gathering folks for Last Call as Zach Top is opening his steel guitar bar tab. And while Jackson may claim to be a “singer of simple songs,” it’s clear those songs have reverberated across generations. I’d like to think some other kids are still having “Chattahoochie” imprinted on the fabric of their musical souls from a car stereo playing real country. Alan Jackson country.
